I'm on a roll! I think. Two things due on Tuesday, but I'll be ok. It's only RE and English. And I mean, English is writing, and I'm writing, so I'm technically practising English! Whoopie!
Chapter 8: Apology Chocolate
LESLIE
Mello hasn't come out of his room in two days. Bread and jam have been missing from the kitchen so I guess he must be sneaking in these to eat when nobody's around.
I feel pretty bad. I mean, I wanted to make him suffer, but this is too much.
"Hey, he was asking for it," L had said to me when I'd told him how bad I felt.
"Maybe I should say something to him…"
"No way! He'll kill you if you come anywhere near him!" L had replied.
Near, who had been reading a book, looked up at the word 'near' and we all laughed and forgot about Mello. But now I think about it, maybe I should apologise. I feel pretty bad about the whole thing. It feels weird to go into maths and see Mello's seat empty. Nobody really seems to mind that he's just disappeared. That's Wammy's House for you. No such thing as TLC.
"Leslie?"
I look up. L is standing there with a bowl of curry for me. I hate hot foods, but I eat it anyway. It burns my mouth but I don't care. I feel rotten. I think I'll skip History.
"You're… eating curry. Something's up," he says.
"I have to say something to Mello. I have to. This is eating me up inside."
L starts to say something, but sees the look in my eyes and decides against it.
"Bring apology chocolate," he advises me.
I nod and grab a bar off Near who, since Mello has been shut up in his room, has taken to being the Official Wammy's House Chocolate Fiend. It seems fitting that he only eats white chocolate, though.
"Mine!"
Near
looks a little annoyed, but then shrugs and goes back to his pasta
with no sauce – just cheese.
"Good luck!" L says as I trot off to Mello's room.
L
I turn to Near as soon as Leslie leaves.
"Are we honestly going to let her go to Mello's room without protection?" I ask him.
He turns and looks at me.
"That'd be the stupidest thing to do. But we can't interfere… maybe we should wait outside the door, in case Mello goes berserk!"
Even though we both knew that we wouldn't stand a chance against Mello if the need arose (Leslie could pin us both down without even sweating), there was some strange protectiveness we both felt over her, like she was something that was weak and needed help in the world. Maybe it was all those afternoons explaining algebra.
"Come on!"
We get up and dash off to Mello's room, thinking stupidly that we're needed.
LESLIE
I knock on Mello's door. I'm a little nervous. Maybe it's the Keep Out – Or Die sign. Either way, it's too late to back out now.
"Go away!" a voice shouts from the inside. It breaks at the 'away' part, and I know that it has nothing to do with puberty.
"Mello?"
"Just go away!"
I open the door. There are no locks on bedroom doors here, just bathrooms. I think it's a fire policy.
The room is dark and the blinds are drawn. A single lamp in the far corner lights things up a little, but not much. There's a human-sized lump in the bed. I close the door behind me and sit on the chair at the desk. I put the chocolate on the bed.
"I brought you chocolate," I say.
"I don't care. I don't want anything to do with you."
I sigh and try and think of something to say.
"Mello… listen, I'm sorry. I let my emotions get the better of me. I just wanted to hurt you so badly. I didn't even stop to think."
Silence. Good, he was listening.
"I felt like you were turning people away from me. I had enough problems with friends back home, and I really wanted things to go well here, and I thought you were stuffing things up for me."
A hand reached out from under the blankets and felt around for the chocolate. I moved it so he could reach it. He found it and his hand withdrew back into the blankets. There was the sound of tin foil being opened and then the crack of somebody biting into chocolate.
"I've never had white chocolate before," Mello said suddenly, in a very small voice.
I decided not to tell him it was Near's. He had a bit of an inferiority complex when it came to Near.
"I'm glad I could help," I said.
I sat there for a while listening to him eat chocolate, glad that I'd done something right.
L
I never thought I'd be jealous of Mello, but that day has come. Maybe it has something to do with me being more than a little fond of Leslie. I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but I think it involved Leslie apologising and Mello forgiving her. Yes, I was very jealous.
The door
opens and I jump back. Leslie departs, smiling. Or at least, she was
smiling until she noticed me and Near.
"You guys!" she hisses.
"What are you doing here?"
"Taking care of you. Mello is… unpredictable," I say.
"Well,
thankyou, but I was fine. We had a little heart-to-heart and all is
well."
Now I was angry. How dare Mello have
"heart-to-heart" with Leslie? How dare he?
I see red, and
suddenly I'm running back to Mello's room. I don't even know
what I'm doing.
"L?" Leslie calls, but my blood is up. I'm
going to rip that stupid un-deserving idiot limb from limb.
I burst through the door and crash into Mello, who was leaving. He frowns at me and I frown right back at him. I don't know what else to do, but I figure it out. I swing my arm around, straight into his nose. There's an awful crunch, and then I faint, because there's nothing else I can do.
LESLIE
"L!" I call after him as he runs off.
Oh no,
what is he going to do? I exchange a glance with Near, and we begin
to run after him, but it's too late. I hear a crunch, and then a
thud. Oh gods, L, what have you done?
We round the corner and find
L passed out on the floor. Mello's face is covered in blood. His
eyes are screwed up in pain. I whip off my jumper and offer it to
him. He puts it to his face to stop the blood-flow.
"Mello, I
know you don't like Near, but you're not going to be able to get
to sick-bay on your own," I say quickly. "Go on, get there
quickly, before you pass out like this big idiot over here."
They
dash off and I'm left alone with L. I pick him up and chuck him
over one shoulder. He's very light – worryingly so. Why didn't
I notice that before?
I figure that he fainted. It's a very L
thing to do, faint after he punches somebody in the nose. At least, I
figure L punched Mello in the nose. There's no way Mello would
punch himself in the nose…
When I
finally get to sick-bay, I'm greeted by a very unpleasant sight.
The nurse, Sr Tabitha, is bending over a still figure, which I
realise is Mello. Near, his entire front covered in blood, is sitting
on a chair, exhausted. I dump L on another bed and sit next to
Near.
"What happened?" I ask.
"About three quarters – no, five sevenths – of the way here, Mello collapsed. I had to drag him. It wasn't very pleasant."
I look
again at his bloodstained shirt.
"Little wonder," I say.
Near stands up and dusts himself off.
"I'm going to have a bath. You're staying here?" he asks.
I nod and
he walks away. Sr Tabitha looks over at me.
"You know what
happened here?" she asks me suspiciously.
"I have
my guesses."
L groans and sits up.
"Ugh, how did I get
here?" he moans.
"You look after that one," Sister says. "I'll finish patching Mello here up, and then come and see L. Goodness me, two in one day!"
I go over and sit on the bed next to L.
"Am I an idiot?"
"Yes, L, you are."
I've been re-reading Death Note, especially the volume where some things happen at Wammy's. Hmmm… I should mention L's tennis abilities…
